Victor Davis Hanson provides a list of things that politically correct people say in public. As I read it, it occurred to me I’d heard all these things before, in editorials and staff columns in The News & Observer. It’s like a primer for ivory tower journalistic liberals who want to pontificate on issues only vaguely understood by their great-unwashed readers.
Here’s an example. See if you agree:
Don’t discuss the deficit. Instead, call borrowing “stimulus.” Trillions are not much different from billions. Debt can be paid back with more borrowing and someone else’s higher taxes. Ignore the lessons of Greece and California. To appear noble, call for more unemployment benefits, free medical care and more entitlements. To sound cruel, talk about borrowing to pay for them.
Keep silent about Social Security and Medicare. If the system is insolvent, it cannot be because we are living longer, retiring earlier, often taking out more than we paid into the pot, abusing disability provisions, or facing an aging and soon-to-be-shrinking population. Instead, rail at fat cats who need to pay more payroll taxes, and at wasteful programs like defense that can be cut to ensure more for the elderly and needy. The checks will always come in time, and “they” will always pay for them.
To be fair, this applies to almost all daily newspapers. They’re all similarly afflicted. It’s just that the N&O is the one I read every day, so it’s my example.
